Transitions

Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me. They belong to Tim Minear and Howard Gordon, and seriously if I did own them. . . . . . . . oh, the fun I could have.

Summary: The relationship between Danny and Mel. Will be partly amusing, angsty, smutty and drama in later chapters. This is just the start though, so it's not really any of those things (yet!).

This is my first fanfic ever, so please be kind and constructive! Will be more chapters if feedback warrants it. Please r&r. Reviews are love!

(By the way, I have no-one to check my stories before I post them, so many apologies for spelling mistakes, etc.)

Word count: 1892

Rating: M to be on the safe side (for mild language).

"I'll give you a ride home. You can pretend we're on a date."

"How sweet am I for thinking that's a sweet idea?"

Danny and Mel made their way out of the office, down to the parking lot and got into Danny's car. As he swung his car to Mel's place, he asked "Got any plans for this weekend?" He smirked. "Any action lined up?" Any change he got to annoy Mel was a chance put to good use, he thought. Besides, Mel always gave back as good as she got. Sometimes better.

Mel slid him a look. "If by action, you mean catching up with friends, watching baseball on TV and walking my dog, then yeah, it's an action packed weekend. Besides," she said with a smirk, "my being dateless is so much less tragic than hearing about your multitude of disastrous dates every Monday."

"Hey!" Danny said looking offended, "I do not have disastrous dates every weekend. I just like to move on before they become too clingy."

"You mean they move on once they realise what you're after."

Danny threw her a look. Giving back as good as she got. "I'll have you know that I'm a perfect gentleman. Until they get to know me" he added with a wicked grin. "Anyway" he continued with a casual shrug, "I only let you think my dates are so disastrous so you won't feel bad about your continual single status." That'll teach her, he thought.

Mel snorted. "You're too kind." "You're right though" she yawned a few minutes later. "These hours killed whatever measly social life I used to have. Much as I like being busy, I can't eat, breathe and live these crimes the way Web and Rebecca do."

Danny knew exactly what she meant. While he was completely focussed on his job, took it seriously, thrived on and enjoyed the job, he didn't live his job. Not like Web and Rebecca. Paul had his home life with Karen, Mel had her . . . . . . . dogs, and he had . . . . . . . well, he had fun with the ladies, he could leave work and still go out and have a social life. Hell, in this job he needed it. But Rebecca and Web lived, ate and breathed the job. They seemed to take it as a personal attack anytime someone killed. They seemed to thrive on outsmarting the criminals and their personal lives be damned.

"I know" Danny resumed the conversation. "My sister tells me it's been so long since she's seen me that Sammy's going to forget what his uncle looks like."

Mel perked up. "Oh, you're gonna see your sister? Say hi to her for me. How's she doin'?" After two years of working together, countless conversations on never-ending stakeouts and occasions when Mel was forced to drag Danny away from some family gathering when they caught a break on a case and it wouldn't wait, Mel knew practically all of Danny's history and family. Just like he knew hers.

Danny smiled. "She's good. She's bugging Greg about having another kid."

"Well, if she's anything like you, I know she'll get her way."

"Cos I'm smart, convincing and determined?"

"No, cos you're pig-headed, stubborn and only hear what you want to."

Danny shot her a look. "How 'bout I make you get out and walk?"

"How 'bout I threw it back in your face every damn day until we stopped working together?" Mel fired back without even pausing.

Danny groaned. "Definitely not worth it."

He pulled up outside of Mel's house. "Thanks for the lift. I'll see you Monday" Mel smiled at him as she got out.

"No problem. See ya." He waited until Mel actually entered her house, and then headed home. As Danny drove along, he reflected back on the discussion that he and Mel had shared. These hours were killing his social life. He'd never had any problems attracting girls, but in this line of work, he could never be guaranteed to actually be able to show up to a date on time, sometimes at all. It was hard enough to get a relationship up and running without a girl accusing you of being a player or not even interested in calling her when in actuality, you were too busy trying to track down a killer who made earrings out of people's eyeballs. Now there was a case he'd never forget.

Still, as demanding as his job was, he worked with a pretty good bunch of people. There was Paul, who always reminded everyone that there was a human toll to every crime. He was their conscience.

Rebecca, the newest member to their team. Damn fine looking, Danny thought. Easy on the eyes and a hell of an asset to their team. But she had no people skills and got way too involved in the crimes. Danny knew that no-one, no-one, could have gone through what she had and come out unscathed, but she didn't enjoy life. Merely tolerated it between cases. Dating her would be a lot like dating Web. Danny shuddered. Too scary to even think about. Great legs, though.

Danny was more than happy to admit that he was the muscle of the group. Hell, he was a big guy and he had coaxed confessions out of the toughest perps, just by looking intimidating. But there was a brain under the brawn and Danny knew that Web wouldn't have kept him around if he hadn't brought something unique to the team. He may not have fancy psychology degrees, but he was able to break cases down to their most basic levels and catch the most obvious points that the others ignored.

There was Carter of course, about the best damn tech person in the Bureau. Carter was the most laid back amongst them, but his nonchalant attitude hid all the passion and intelligence he brought to his job everyday.

That just left Mel, Danny thought as he pulled up to a stop sign. Mel was. . . . . .Well, Mel was Mel. Most people only saw the dry and sarcastic side of Mel. The one that showed the world that she was rarely surprised by what the job and life in general threw at her, and still wouldn't let it beat her down. Danny still remembered their first meeting. Mel had just been transferred into the team as another team member had a breakdown after a particularly bad case that involved kids. Web was already in his office and Paul was in a particularly loved up phase with Karen, so he was running late. Danny had walked in to find Mel arranging things on her desk.

'Aha,' he thought assessing her. 'New guy. Or girl in this case. Not bad looking. Lipstick is a bit dark. Making a statement?' he wondered.

He spoke. "So you're the fresh meat huh? Well, I'm Special Agent Danny Love."

"Melody Sims" she answered with a smile and held out her hand to him. He took it and found he liked her handshake. Strong, without trying to use too much force.

"Don't expect it to be easy around here. We all pull our weight and more. Where'd you get transferred from anyway?"

Mel had stiffened slightly at his words. "I know what you're thinking. I got this job because of my stunning good looks. Not true actually. I scored in the top 3 of my psychology class at Yale and the top 4 of my FBI year. Not class, year. I worked on the Jellybean Killer case in Montana and if they had listened to me, they would've caught the guy before he got to his last victim." Mel sat down and looked at Danny coolly.

"Why didn't they?" Danny asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Because apparently I wasn't 'being a team player'" Mel replied, her tone filled with disdain. "What that actually means is that I felt my boss was too busy being a glory hound and not paying attention to the case and the evidence and tried to go over his head. When he found out, I was stuck at my desk. Then they caught the guy through a fluke, a traffic stop of all things, and it was discovered that everything I'd been telling them was absolutely correct, right down to the way he chose his victims." Mel shrugged. "Then I was transferred here."

"Your old boss transfer you out?" Danny asked curiously.

Mel looked thoughtful. "That's what I thought, but Special Agent Web requested me. And I was more than ready to move on" Mel said, half under her breath. The fact was, she was desperate to move on. While everything she had told Danny was true, she also knew that rejecting the advances of her very determined, very married, very powerful boss had also played a big part in being chained to her desk. After that happened, Mel had decided, then and there, that she would never, ever even contemplate or encourage getting involved with another team member.

No matter how gorgeous their blue eyes were.

"So here I am" Mel finished. "Ready to jump in and pull my weight" she added lightly, echoing his earlier words. Mel cocked an eyebrow. "Unless you're afraid of being upstaged?"

In reply, Danny tossed a file onto his desk and started sorting his presentation to the team. "Coffee" he said to Mel, holding out his coffee cup to her.

"Thanks" Mel said, giving him a look that said 'Dream on, buddy.' "White, two sugars."

Danny shot her a look that showed he was unimpressed with her answer, and as they both turned back to their respective tasks, Danny allowed himself a small, half-smile.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Web had been watching their little interaction from his office. These two were actually going to get along, he thought. Interesting.

Danny and Mel's first conversation pretty much set the groundwork for their working relationship. Smart comments, challenging statements and as time went on, more personal information, verbal sparring, sharing of histories, learning what personal habits bugged the hell out of the other and using them whenever it would be funny to irritate the hell out of the other, and most importantly, a deep respect for the other's skills and abilities.

Danny was brought back to the present as he pulled into the parking garage of his apartment complex and headed up to his apartment. Thinking back on it, Mel helped focus all their skills, the brains, the brawn, the conscience, the science, into the big picture and show them the history and present of a crime, its victims and the probable future for the perp. But she brought much more than that.

Mel had an amazing ability to get perps to open up to her. She seemed so cool and so convinced that everyone was wasting her time when she was talking to them, that they often revealed things to her that they hadn't meant to and Mel's sharp mind would quickly hone in on every detail, every inconsistency, that they would trap themselves without even realising it. Damn useful skill to have on this team.

Yep, Danny thought as he yawned and let himself into his apartment. He worked with a pretty good bunch of people.